Assent Compliance Bloghttps://blog.assentcompliance.com
Compliance Software and ConsultingMon, 21 Jan 2019 18:02:56 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9Top Five Ways Regulation Can Introduce Operational Risk to Your Companyhttps://blog.assentcompliance.com/index.php/top-five-ways-regulation-can-introduce-operational-risk-to-your-company/
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 17:58:39 +0000https://blog.assentcompliance.com/?p=4645Your suppliers are more than business entities that sell you parts or materials; they are the lifeline to the ongoing viability of your products. As such, it’s crucial to ensure that connection is a strong, healthy one — your products and business depend on it.

Regardless of your compliance landscape, there are several regulatory requirements associated with the sale of your products into global markets. Even if you aren’t in scope of some of them, they could impact your suppliers in a number of ways. This presents considerable operational risk to the ability to get your products to market successfully.

Through Assent’s work influencing and providing regulatory expertise to companies, we’ve found many ways in which operational risk can sneak into supply chains. This problem is exacerbated by a regulatory landscape that is always expanding, creating new ways for these issues to occur. And they can impact your bottom line as decisively as penalties issued by a regulatory body.

Here are five of the most common ways operational risk can have an impact on your products.

For example, the electronics industry has slowly been distancing itself from lead solder for many years, due to a range of environmental and health impacts. New substances used for soldering, such as tin, may cause shorts in some products due to their internal design. This can make it difficult to extend their life, as they require ongoing repair, or spare parts that are qualified with and reliant upon lead solder.

If your company manufactures equipment to fill federal contracts, you might be exempt from substance regulations such as REACH and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive. However, your suppliers may not benefit from the same exemptions. Rather, they must alter or discontinue product lines to navigate those regulations in order to sell products into your region, or other regulated countries where those parts are advanced into a secondary stage of manufacture. If a substance your product relies on is restricted, you may lose access to the parts that require the substance for production. This can lead to expensive product redesign and lost contracts.

3. A Supplier You Can No Longer Use

There are several ways your company can lose access to a supplier altogether. For example, when your company isn’t in scope of mandatory labor standards regulations, or if your suppliers are allowing poor or illegal work conditions to persist in their factories, it’s often just a matter of time before those issues are exposed. This can result in a loss of access to the supplier. Collecting data and performing audits in your supply chain will help you uncover these issues and influence remediation efforts before a major incident occurs.

4. Products Advanced to End-of-Life Prematurely

Losing access to parts that are crucial to the structural and operational integrity of your products can cause you to advance a product to end-of-life prematurely. For example, if your weapons systems require electronic products that are end-of-lifed due to RoHS restrictions placed on an upstream supplier, you may not be able to continue selling or maintaining the product. This would make it impossible to continue manufacturing the product, and repairing existing units when the part in question breaks down. With no other choice, your company would have to send the product to end-of-life and design an entirely new product line.

If you don’t have a good understanding of which substances and materials used in your products could be restricted in the future, it could interfere with your ability to get new products approved for sale. For example, if your medical device company has created an innovative steel rod design, it will likely require a lengthy testing and approval process to be determined safe for use. If a substance or material used in the product’s manufacture later becomes restricted, you’ll have to redesign the product and go through the approval process again, which could set your product’s release back by up to two years.

Operational risk can impact your company in any number of ways, depending on your vertical, business size, how you procure supply and the areas you sell into. At Assent, we help our clients identify operational risk and find the most cost-efficient way forward, at a fraction of the cost of implementing an internal team of regulatory experts.

We also support our clients in addressing these challenges through our Premium Support service, executed by our team of world-class compliance professionals who work with some of the world’s most influential Fortune 500 companies.

Talk to Assent for more information about how your company can identify and manage operational risk resulting from regulatory non-compliance. Contact our experts at info@assentcompliance.com.

]]>2019 Narwhal List Highlights Assent’s Trajectory to Become a Canadian Unicornhttps://blog.assentcompliance.com/index.php/assent-makes-impact-centres-2019-narwhal-list/
Fri, 18 Jan 2019 19:28:31 +0000https://blog.assentcompliance.com/?p=4638The University of Toronto’s Impact Centre has released the 2019 Narwhal List, and Assent Compliance has made the cut as a Canadian company likely to reach $1 billion in revenue.

The announcement comes a few months after Assent received over 100 million U.S. dollars from Warburg Pincus in a Series C funding round.

Based on publicly-available information, the Narwhal List raises the profile of Canadian companies most likely to become “unicorns”, with a predicted annual revenue trajectory of over $1 billion.

Qualification to join the list of companies that could reach this status is determined through a variety of factors, including investment and financial velocity. Technology firms have become more prominent on the list in recent years, and the addition of Assent continues this trend.

One of 17 new companies to make the list, Assent was recognized due to its year-over-year revenue growth, coming in at a rate of nearly 100 percent since 2015.As the global leader in supply chain data management, Assent provides enterprise SaaS solutions to help companies simplify their supply chain. By combining leading-edge technologies and extensive supply chain expertise, Assent’s solutions manage third-party data to protect corporate brands, increase market accessibility, and reduce operational and financial risk. The Assent Compliance Platform automates supply chain data management, increasing supply chain transparency and helping companies respond to the significant volume of data and regulatory requirements they face.

For more information about Assent Compliance, contact our experts at info@assentcompliance.com.

]]>Ask the Experts: January 18 Editionhttps://blog.assentcompliance.com/index.php/ask-the-experts-january-18-edition/
Fri, 18 Jan 2019 16:15:54 +0000https://blog.assentcompliance.com/?p=4625Our regulatory subject matter experts are always available to educate compliance professionals through content, webinars and events. They also provide advice to Assent clients. Here are the top five questions our Regulatory team has recently received.

Q: If a customer requests compliance information for a product that was ordered several years ago, is the supplier obligated to provide current declarations, or will declarations that were current at the time the parts were ordered suffice?

Travis Miller: Depending on origin of the request, there may be no obligation to update compliance information once a product has been placed on the market. However, there is an obligation to maintain compliance records. You should be able to provide a disclosure for the compliance status of a component or part as of the date it was sold, or more currently, if possible.

Q: Can you provide examples of the types of components and materials that are most likely to contain the substances added to the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation’s Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) list in June 2018?

DCHP: Plastisol, PVC, rubber and plastic articles, as well as a phlegmatizer and dispersing agent for formulations of organic peroxides.

Q: The Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT) asks about tin in steel. If a product contains tin in steel, does a supplier need to answer “Yes” to Question 1 regarding the presence of tin, tungsten, tantalum and/or gold (3TGs), or can they consider a product with tin in steel void of 3TGs?

Jared Connors: If engineering estimates for the product indicate the product contains 3TGs, but only “trace-level contaminants or naturally-occurring by-products such as tin in steel”, a company can answer “No” to Question 1 of the CMRT. If this route is taken, I highly recommend explaining in the comments section why tin may be found in the product if tested, but this is considered out of scope of the CMRT’s line of questioning.

Q: If a part with paint contains Proposition 65-listed substances, but is covered up and not exposed to an end-user, would it be considered in scope of Proposition 65?

Bruce Jarnot: In most cases where the foreseeable product use can result in a risk of exposure to Proposition 65 substances, a warning label would be required so the customer is aware of the carcinogenic and/or reproductive toxicity risks prior to purchase.

If a company can determine that the paint coating will prevent the customer from being exposed to hexavalent chromium contained within the metal part (so long as it is used under standard/foreseeable use parameters), this could provide an adequate basis to forego the application of a warning label.

If you believe one of the parts you procure may contain hexavalent chromium, but have been unable to get confirmation of this from the part supplier, there is a simple swab test that can be used to confirm this. Alternately, you can send the part into a testing laboratory for specific materials analysis.

Q: Can I post my company’s modern slavery statement in the same place on our website or will I need multiple locations to support California, the United Kingdom and Australia’s modern slavery statement requirements?

Sarah Carpenter: Australia’s new Modern Slavery Act takes a different approach to modern slavery reporting than the UK and California. Rather than requiring companies to post statements on their websites, the Australian Modern Slavery Act establishes a Modern Slavery Statements Register that’s available to the public on the internet. Companies must submit their statements to the Minister in an approved form within six months after the end of their reporting period. If the Minister finds the statement was prepared in accordance with the act, the Minister must then register the statement on the Modern Slavery Statements Register. If the statement does not comply with the requirements of the act, it is at the discretion of the Minister whether the statement gets registered.

For more questions and answers, visit the last edition of Assent’s Ask the Experts blog.

]]>Six Compliance Topics You Can’t Ignore This Yearhttps://blog.assentcompliance.com/index.php/six-compliance-topics-you-cant-ignore-this-year/
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 15:00:59 +0000https://blog.assentcompliance.com/?p=4632Sometimes, ignorance is bliss — but when it comes to compliance and regulatory changes, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Throughout 2019, changes in the trade compliance, product compliance, and corporate social responsibility spaces will cause shifts in regulatory programs. It’s important to factor these changes into regulatory efforts this year in order to maintain market access, and avoid penalties, fines or surprise tariff fees. Here are the top six areas of compliance you need to pay attention to throughout 2019.

1. Trade Compliance

As the U.S.-China trade war continues, trade compliance will be a major area of consideration for companies in 2019. Throughout 2018, mentions of tariffs on earnings calls surged; this will be a dominant trend in information requested by investors throughout this year.

Many companies are dependent on suppliers that will need to be evaluated based on tariff changes. A large number of products being traded between the U.S. and China are now subject to tariffs ranging from 10 to 25 percent. Meanwhile, sophisticated customs clearance databases (ACE) are allowing audits and enforcement activity to increase, with a corresponding increase in fines.

When it comes to trade compliance, the ability to collect and produce data required by customs will be a major challenge throughout the year. If companies do not have supplier data, such as Harmonized System (HS) code classifications, country of origin, and Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCN), they will need to acquire it from the supply chain in order to make appropriate judgments and maintain market access. Moreover, even if they have this data, they still need to be sure their information matches supplier data, which will inevitably end up on customs clearance paperwork.

The database will serve as a central repository for article declarations once complete, and will be established, piloted and tested by January 5, 2020. It will serve as a catalyst for the standardization and streamlining of declarations, but it will also facilitate simpler REACH enforcement for authorities.

3. EU Medical Device Regulation

With the EU Medical Device Regulation deadline coming in May 2020, companies need to begin and complete the data collection process this year in order for products to be certified in time. Every medical device company will have to complete multiple major projects — including gap assessments, data collection and product registration — to gain certification.

Companies that manufacture medical devices, or supply to companies that are in scope, need to look at the declarable substances list (DSL) for the MDR and prepare to declare against it, defending the use of any restricted substance that may appear. Companies will need to begin in early 2019 — now, essentially — to collect this data.

4. New EU & China RoHS changes

The deadline for the four new EU RoHS phthalates is July, 22, 2019. This has been more significant than expected for some companies, as many resins, plasticizers and coatings have come into scope of RoHS. This has required some manufacturers to find substitutes for these substances to ensure their products are compliant.

As of March 12, 2019, there will be new requirements under China RoHS that impose concentration limits of 1,000 mg/kg for lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium (6+), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and 100 mg/kg for cadmium.

5. Proposition 65 Substantiation

The requirements introduced a long-form label, and a new short-form label intended for small packages that do not have sufficient space for the long-form label. However, without strict guidelines surrounding the use of the short-form label, some companies are still electing to use the short-form label ubiquitously on products. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) may choose to amend short-form labeling guidelines in 2019, or pursue action against companies with unsubstantiated use of the short-form warning.

6. U.S. Conflict Minerals & Sanctions

Companies will need to remain vigilant in conducting due diligence for conflict minerals throughout the supply chain. For the first time, the U.S. Department of State has appointed a conflict minerals lead, and indications show there will be a focus on the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

This means companies should pay closer attention to sanctions. They will need to support compliance programs with consistent due diligence, aligned with international standards, and ensure smelters and refiners under U.S. sanctions are removed from the supply chain.

Regulations and requirements are always changing. Assent’s regulatory team ensures our solutions are built on the most current regulatory insight, and that clients are well-informed with the latest information to adapt to change.

To learn more about how Assent’s supply chain data management solution can streamline your compliance programs in a variety of areas, contact info@assentcompliance.com.

]]>European Chemicals Agency Announces New Strategic Prioritieshttps://blog.assentcompliance.com/index.php/european-chemicals-agency-announces-new-strategic-priorities/
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 17:00:07 +0000https://blog.assentcompliance.com/?p=4621The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) recently announced its new strategy defining its priorities, and their implementation, for 2019–2023. The ECHA’s plan will include revisions to the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation; the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation; the Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR); the Informed Consent Regulation (PIC); and the Waste Framework Directive (WFD).

To define its future strategy, the ECHA has identified three main areas of focus:

Identification and risk management of substances of concern.

Safe and sustainable use of chemicals by industry.

Sustainable management of chemicals through the implementation of European Union (EU) legislation.

“Our new strategic priorities lead us to making the best use of our unique source of information on chemicals in Europe and to focus our efforts where we can provide the most impact,” said Bjorn Hansen, the ECHA’s Executive Director. “This also means an increased focus on ensuring compliance with EU chemicals legislation.”

An in-depth evaluation of REACH under the Better Regulation Programme, as well as a fitness check for other chemicals legislation, including the BPR and CLP.

An evaluation of the link between chemicals, product and waste legislation under the Circular Economy Action Plan.

The development of a non-toxic environment strategy.

Implementation of the strategy, however, may not be an easy task. The ECHA anticipates there will be some challenging times ahead as a result of:

Brexit-caused doubt regarding future relations between the EU and the UK.

The end of the current Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF), which determines the EU’s spending budget for a period of at least five years. The new MFF is set to begin in 2021.

The ECHA’s New Mission & Vision

The ECHA’s new strategy supports the organization’s new mission: to work together with its partners for the safe use of chemicals. As part of its vision, the ECHA pledges “to be the centre of knowledge on the sustainable management of chemicals, serving a wide range of EU policies and global initiatives, for the benefit of citizens and the environment.”

“This strategy goes a long way in preparing ECHA for the next five years but also for the long-term future,” said Sharon McGuinness, Chair of the Management Board at the ECHA. “It is very important to have clarity on our mission and have the right priorities in place, so that all our stakeholders can rely on them.”

Leverage Your Data to Support New Regulatory Requirements

The Assent Compliance Platform is designed to help companies manage all of their compliance programs, including REACH and RoHS, from a single location. With the Full Material Disclosure Module,companies can collect supplier data for a variety of regulations, allowing them to gain full visibility into a product’s composition and stay ahead of the regulatory curve. In addition, the free Assent Materials Declaration Tool can be used to upload, edit and export declaration files.

For more information about how Assent’s can help companies enhance their data management processes and streamline your supply chain data collection, contact us at info@assentcompliance.com.

]]>ECHA Adds New SVHCs to REACH Candidate Listhttps://blog.assentcompliance.com/index.php/echa-adds-new-svhcs-to-reach-candidate-list/
Tue, 15 Jan 2019 18:06:22 +0000https://blog.assentcompliance.com/?p=4615The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) released six new additions to the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation’s Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) Candidate List today.

The REACH SVHC Candidate List is updated every six months, so it’s critical that companies in scope of REACH are regularly monitoring the Candidate List and evaluating their products for new substances.

Assent’s REACH Module is updated whenever new SVHCs are added to the Candidate List, and helps companies automate their data collection, validation and management. Streamlined supply chain outreach allows for complete visibility into the composition of products throughout the supply chain, as well as tracking of SVHCs.

Learn more about the Assent Compliance Platform and how Assent can help you stay ahead of your expanding regulatory requirements in our guide, The Assent Product Compliance Suite.

To learn more about Assent, and how we can help you meet your REACH requirements, contact info@assentcompliance.com.

]]>How to Manage Due Diligence & Sanctions in Responsible Sourcing Programshttps://blog.assentcompliance.com/index.php/how-to-manage-due-diligence-sanctions-in-responsible-sourcing-programs/
Mon, 14 Jan 2019 20:59:56 +0000https://blog.assentcompliance.com/?p=4608It’s time to start working toward the conflict minerals reporting deadline — and this year, sanctions are playing a role in due diligence activities.

Sourcing issues can stem from organizations located outside the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its adjoining countries when denied parties lists are factored in. Soon after U.S. filers completed their annual disclosures for the 2017 reporting year, two smelters — one in Russia and one in the Czech Republic — were hit with Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions. This caused the smelters to be removed from validated sourcing lists.

As a result, companies needed to assess for risk. It was an ongoing issue throughout 2018, and it has the potential to impact this year’s reporting.

These smelters in Russia and the Czech Republic have already been heavily affected by the sanctions, as gold is traded through banks, with metal traders operating underneath them. Because banks operate in U.S. jurisdictions, they were in scope of sanctions, causing these smelters to go out of business.

If a supplier declares one of these sanctioned smelters on their CMRT, it means:

They are using old data, and have not updated their CMRT disclosure, or

They are using up materials purchased prior to the sanctions.

Although most companies interpret the risk as low due to the lack of direct business interest in these smelters, an increasing number of companies are choosing to conduct extended due diligence through the supply chain to evaluate the continued use of such sources. The goal of conducting this due diligence is to provide evidence that a company has no direct business interest in sources under sanctions. The direct benefit and business impact is the ability to provide this information to customers and support their understanding of the use of such sources.

As organizations evaluate their due diligence measures, they may benefit from considering what risks lie ahead. Responsible minerals programs are expanding, and the focus on other conflict-affected and high-risk areas is increasing. As companies determine how to adapt their responsible minerals programs, they should consider:

Could other upstream sources around the globe fall under the purview of denied parties lists?

What are their customers’ expectations, and how should they address their responsible sourcing concerns?

How might continued scrutiny of additional metals and sources impact their ability to both procure material and report on material sources of origin?

Does the use of denied parties, even if their organization has no direct business interest, align with their program expectations and ethical standards?

Companies that wish to conduct extended due diligence may want to survey suppliers with a specific request surrounding sanctioned sources.

While most large-scale mining (LSM) companies have existing corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs in place, they may need to adapt to meet evolving regulatory requirements and the expectations of external stakeholders.

Enhancing Your Responsible Minerals Program

Minerals are extremely versatile and most have a variety of applications across multiple industries. Without them, a wide range of everyday products such as laptops, light bulbs, fiber optics and computer chips would not exist. Companies that use these minerals are beginning to implement stronger responsible sourcing programs to mitigate the risk of human rights violations and environmental harm throughout the supply chain.

To support these efforts, associations such as the Cobalt Institute have created resources and guidance companies can use to enhance their responsible sourcing programs. The Cobalt Institute promotes the responsible production and use of cobalt in all its forms, and encourages its members to abide by its seven guiding principles around protecting human health and the environment, and upholding human rights.

There are many tools available to help companies enhance their conflict minerals and responsible sourcing programs, including:

The Conflict Minerals Reporting Template: The Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT) is a free, standardized reporting template developed by the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) that facilitates the exchange of data regarding mineral country of origin, and information on smelters and refiners throughout the supply chain.

The Cobalt Reporting Template: Similar to the CMRT, and also developed by the RMI, the Cobalt Reporting Template is a free, standardized template that helps companies collect data specific to cobalt from their suppliers.

Reduced Reputational Risk: The free-flowing nature of information exchange today can quickly make an organization’s adverse event a global issue, severely compounding the damage to their reputation. A commitment to responsible sourcing beyond conflict minerals can mitigate potential reputational risk resulting from human rights violations in an organization’s supply chain.

Advance Preparation for Evolving Market Expectations: Companies are beginning to take a proactive approach to compliance, looking beyond their regulatory requirements to identify risks associated with sourcing minerals other than the 3TGs, and from conflict-affected areas outside the DRC. This ensures they can maintain market access as the regulatory landscape evolves.

The Broader Impact of Responsible Sourcing

Getting a clear view of the supply chain remains a challenge for companies, but many are voluntarily creating operational approaches beyond basic reporting in order to strengthen their responsible sourcing practices. By doing so, companies can manage their risks more efficiently; enhance their relations with investment partners, employees and surrounding communities; and improve their reputation.

Companies that go above and beyond their regulatory requirements and adapt their operations to include a strong responsible sourcing program are better positioned to succeed in the long term, and contribute to a more stable and prosperous environment.

]]>Deadline Looms for Children’s Product Manufacturers in Scope of Children’s Safe Products Acthttps://blog.assentcompliance.com/index.php/deadline-looms-for-childrens-product-manufacturers-in-scope-of-childrens-safe-products-act/
Thu, 10 Jan 2019 18:59:25 +0000https://blog.assentcompliance.com/?p=4595Does your company sell children’s products in or into the State of Washington? If so, the deadline for reporting on substance data is coming up on January 31, 2019.

Under the Children’s Safe Products Act, companies have a responsibility to communicate with the Washington State Department of Ecology if their products contain a chemical of high concern (CHCC). Companies may be in scope of this regulation if their products:

While many of the substances on the CHCC list may not be harmful to children, the Department of Ecology maintains a database on these substances in consultation with the Department of Health to understand which of them and to what degree they exist on the market. When the effects of these substances are better understood, the regulatory agency will be poised to issue product recalls. The agency will also make declarations available to the public in order to inform consumer decision-making.

Chemicals of high concern may not present any immediate danger to companies or those they come into contact with, but there is a fair degree of operational risk. If the agency issues a recall with respect to dangers associated with the substances in their products, companies may need to take back stock. This could also impact company reputation if it is uncovered that a company used a CHCC when there was a less questionable substance available.

If your company is in scope, you may need to report on any CHCCs sold into the State of Washington from the period of September 1, 2017, to December 31, 2018. These should be submitted to the database at the Department of Ecology’s online portal, where they will be reviewed and made available to the public as of February 28, 2019.

Assent helps companies collect this substance data through its State-Level CSPA Module. The module enables manufacturers cost-effectively identify when CHCCs are present in their products by automating supply chain engagement and expediting it with our database of shared compliance contacts and declarations.

For more about how Assent can help your company collect CHCC data, as well as a range of product compliance data types from the supply chain, contact our experts at info@assentcompliance.com.

]]>Ask the Experts: Top Five Questionshttps://blog.assentcompliance.com/index.php/ask-the-experts-top-five-questions/
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 16:57:47 +0000https://blog.assentcompliance.com/?p=4575Our team of regulatory subject matter experts are always available to educate compliance professionals through content, webinars and events. They also provide advice to Assent clients. Here are the top five questions our Regulatory team received recently:

Q: When RoHS 3 (2.1) goes into effect, which products are in scope for the July 22, 2021 deadline?

Bruce Jarnot: RoHS restrictions for the four phthalate plasticizers (DEHP, BBP, DBP, DIBP) will come into force on July 22, 2019, for all electric and electronic equipment, except medical devices and monitoring and control instruments, which will come into scope on July 22, 2021.

Q: What are some of the penalties and consequences of RoHS non-compliance that may resonate with my board of directors?

Bruce Jarnot: Based on experience, competent authorities from EU member states want to see evidence of RoHS due diligence showing that your company understands its requirements, and that third-party supplier documentation is being actively collected and refreshed. Significant fines and litigation are more likely to happen (compared to a corrective action plan) if a company flagrantly disregards this law and applies the CE marking without substantiation. Some EU RoHS enforcement authorities have stated that over $65 million worth of electronics are being recalled from the market every year due to this issue.

Valerie Kuntz: You should also be aware, especially for RoHS, that imported products are often scanned at customs to confirm they do not contain any of the restricted substances. From there, enforcement authorities can go back to the importer/manufacturer to determine what information they have that supports adding the CE marking. Even if they don’t specifically impose a fine, they can force you to remove/recall all non-compliant parts, which can get expensive.

Q: What organization handles applications for RoHS exemptions?

Valerie Kuntz: The OEKO Institut has traditionally been the organization contracted by the European Commission to support technical evaluation of EU RoHS exemptions. They have a guidance document for companies that want to apply for exemptions, which can be found here.

Q: My supplier doesn’t think they need to disclose the use of 3TGs in their products, but I believe they are in scope. What should I do?

Jared Connors: If you can show you’ve made reasonable inquiries to the supplier, that may be sufficient for your end-of-year disclosure. However, I’d recommend contacting the supplier and explaining that in order to align with industry standards, they should disclose material sources for 3TGs in the supply chain. This goes beyond U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting — companies around the globe, including those not directly reporting to the SEC for the purposes of Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act, have responsible minerals programs and require supply chain transparency.

Q: Should suppliers that provide stainless steel, brass or aluminum parts be considered in scope of a conflict minerals campaign for tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold (3TGs)?

Jared Connors: The industry expectation is that companies conduct an internal engineering analysis to determine scope for conflict minerals reporting. If you feel that parts do not contain 3TGs, based on this analysis, you may choose to exclude them and record your reasoning for the audit trail. You may also choose to survey the suppliers, and record the audit trail from the supplier determination. Either way is acceptable.